


King Under the Mountain

by ThatHotRedhead



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angry Smaug, Arkenstone - Freeform, Desolation of Smaug, Dragon Sickness, Dynamic Duo, Gold Sickness, Poor Bilbo, Rerewriting of a brilliant scene in my own words, The Lonely Mountain, They are at it again!, dragon - Freeform, gold - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 14:57:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4483715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatHotRedhead/pseuds/ThatHotRedhead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo has been given a seemingly insurmountable task. Find the Arkenstone. </p><p>Oh and if on the off chance there happens to be oh I dunno, a *whispers* dragon...or something just, dont... Just dont wake him? Yeah? Okay go!</p><p>Seriously serious mini fic where Bilbo is suddenly made aware of the presence of a dragon....</p>
            </blockquote>





	King Under the Mountain

**Author's Note:**

> So I felt that a heart the size of Smaug's, in a cavernous place such as The Lonely Mountain's emerald halls could quite possibly be heard if within a certain proximity. Our dear Hobbit most certainly could have been within those parameters. 
> 
> That and I just really wanted to write Smaugs heartbeat okay shush.
> 
> I took the scene and retold it in my own words using directly quoted dialogue to the very best of my ability.

King Under the Mountain

As Bilbo Baggins’ eyes scanned the immeasurable vastness of the Dwarven gold hoard, he was awestruck. 

Awestruck by the quantity, the jaw-dropping quantity of treasure within these ancient Dwarven halls. He makes his way carefully up a golden ridge and takes pause as he is suddenly sickened by the immensity of the task set before him by Thorin Oakenshield. 

Bring back the Arkenstone. 

Bilbo looks out into the dark distant depths of the gold filled halls and lets out a sigh of defeat.

One stone amongst trillions of pieces of metal.

This is absurdity.

Bilbo picks his way deeper into the echoing cavernous halls, scanning about almost half-heartedly for the glowing of the illusive Arkenstone. 

Then, he hears it. The low, slow thudding, like distant thunder or far-off drum beats. It thumps softly, near quietly in his eardrums. But, then, it also resonates in his chest. A slow, steady ‘one...two………... one… two...’ bass beat that puts sudden ice in his veins. 

It’s…

By the gods.

It’s... a heartbeat. 

Bilbo Baggins shudders when his brain definitively discerns to whom it most certainly must belong. 

Smaug.

The dragon of legend. 

His own heart now thumping with panic in his throat, Bilbo grows frantic as his eyes dart this way and that, hoping beyond hope that he might spot the glowing Arkenstone before the great dragon wakes.

The slow, God-like pulse is louder now from where he stands, amongst the mountains of Dwarven gold, and it makes him terribly uneasy.

‘Lub... dub…’ a tangible, near chasm of a pause separates each beat from the next… ‘lub… dub...’

‘Lub...dub………. Lub...dub.’ But it is like a steadily ticking timepiece, without falter.

Bilbo can feel the blood pounding frantic though his own veins as a new enormity sets the fear solidly in his Hobbit bones. 

This is as real and tangible as it could possibly get for the little Hobbit, so far from his home in Bag-end. 

Dragons had only ever been creatures present in the old tales, or a part of old bard-song. The only dragons he could ever claim to have seen were the ones created by the wizard Gandalf, with his marvelous and incredible fireworks. 

But now, Bilbo is faced with a very large and very real dragon, whose presence is verified with terrifying absolution by the steady thudding of his mighty heart in the silence of the Lonely Mountain's cavernous halls. 

Trying to remain outwardly calm after this jarring realization, he carefully leans down and takes hold of a gilt handle and pulls. A golden goblet is what he lifts from the side of the golden mountain. But this small action disturbs the immense treasure. Suddenly a river of coins and golden trinkets starts to slide noisily down the mountain and he leaps aside as the avalanche plays out terrifyingly before his eyes. 

After a minute or so, silence falls once more upon the emerald halls, and soon after, Bilbo can hear the beating of Smaug’s mighty heart once more. It makes his stomach churn with terror. 

But then, he sees what the avalanche revealed and that pit in his stomach turns into a boulder. 

It is Smaug’s scaly, lidded, and by the great powers that be, blessedly still-slumbering eye. The rusty crimson scales of Smaug’s eye and brow are thrown into sharp relief against the glittering gold that blankets this enormous beast. 

Panicked, Bilbo scrambles for the nearby pillar. More gold starts to cascade from beneath each of his hurried footfalls as he pins his back against the pillar, trying to pant quietly as the terror builds in his chest. 

He waits in the silence.

A handful of seconds pass before a great breath is exhaled sharply from Smaug's lungs and coins are blown away from the dragon’s huge nostril as it opens wide to allow the creature's breath to pass. After waiting another moment, Bilbo starts to tiptoe away from the pillar when suddenly there is a great shift in the mountain of treasure on the other side of the pillar. Bilbo stops dead in his tracks and turns to follow the motion. Motion that ultimately outlines the full length of Smaug’s mountainous hulking body as it curls widely behind the pillar. Bilbo shakes his head in disbelief, ‘No, he cannot wake, not now!’ he groans in his head. 

Over four hundred feet this beast stretches. 

Bilbo is genuinely terrified now. In utter disbelief he outstretches his arms to the sides in exasperation, looking back and forth between the head and tail of the mountainous dragon. He puts a hand, palm flat, atop his head, ‘Now what am I to do? Rather, what have I done?’

Quietly he starts to tiptoe down the mountain of gold, but makes only three steps before the behemoth starts to move its head behind him. Bilbo casually crouches down onto one knee and holds his chin in his hand,trying desperately to remain un-panicked.

The creature's head stops moving and Bilbo cautiously backs away, down the slope of treasure.

Then, the eye slides open. The nictitating membrane slips lazily away and the large slit pupil narrows only slightly in the low light.

Bilbo gasps hard as his eyes go wide. Heart pounding in his throat, he throws himself down the slope a bit to hide behind a small mound of treasure that juts above the rest of the gold out of the dragon’s line of sight. He cannot help his heavy panicked breaths, but suddenly he recalls The Ring in his breast pocket. He carefully slips the ring out of the cloth pocket and looks warily into the band’s center as his heart thuds hard and quick against his ribs. Bilbo glances back over his shoulder at the dragon as it blinks and slowly raises its head out of the golden mountain, coin cascading from his giant head.

Bilbo slips the ring on his finger and disappears as the dragon loudly sniffs the air, once, twice, three times before his lips curl back in a throaty growl that reveals many of his pointed teeth. Bilbo slowly gets to his feet and faces the behemoth. Still not entirely certain whether or not the dragon can see him.

“Well, Thief.” The huge dragon begins, his deep growling voice like thunder. He seems almost to look right at Bilbo as his great head draws within feet of his body. Bilbo’s nose itches and he wiggles it, scared still to even move.

“I can smell you. I can hear your breath. I can feel your air." Smaug growls and the sound rattles Bilbo's nerves. "I can smell your terror, thief.” His thunderous voice echoes in the vast chamber as he growls, his head passing directly over top of Bilbo as the Hobbit lays himself flat against the gold, to keep from touching the dark crimson scales of the dragon’s chin or neck.

“Where are you?” The dragon queries silkily and slow, looking back towards Bilbo now. Bilbo stands back up to face the creature, jaw clenched, chest heaving with terrified breaths through his nose. The dragon shoves his face dangerously closer and snarls quickly, “where are you?” nearly touching Bilbo with the tip of his giant nose. Bilbo’s resolve breaks, and he leaps to the side and starts running down the mountain of sliding treasure, making a great amount of noise. Smaug snarls and slithers behind him giving chase to the still invisible Hobbit thief.

Bilbo slips to his right and puts his back to another pillar just as one of the clawed wings grips the very same, a number of feet above his head as the dragon passes by

“You cannot hide from me.” Smaug almost purrs. “Come now, don’t be shy. Step into the light.” he demands sharply.

The dragon’s demeanor shifts subtly now, more towards intrigue it seems as he starts to slide around behind the stone structure Bilbo hides behind. “Hmmm... There is something about you…” He starts slowly, “Something you carry, something made of gold.” The beast's head is perhaps ten feet away as he comes around the stone structure. One big fiery eye seems to look straight at him, and Bilbo cannot quite tell if he can be seen, if not at the very least heard or smelled, despite the Ring’s power. The dragon is so terrifyingly close and Bilbo’s heart thuds so frightened against his sternum he fears it may very well give him away.

Smaug looks at Bilbo directly, “But far...more...preciousss.” he says pointedly taking a breath between each word to emphasize. 

Bilbo is suddenly awash with the terrifying power of the Ring as the word 'precious' rings louder and louder in his head, cacophonous, overwhelming, maddening. Suddenly it all comes to a head and the Eye of Sauron flashes bright and all seeing in his mind’s eye and drives him over the edge and Bilbo rips off the ring.

The dragon’s pupil contracts as the behemoth focuses on Bilbo at last. “There you are, Thief in the shadows.” The beast’s eye narrows minutely as his head rises a touch.

Bilbo is panting, mind and heart racing. “I- I did not...come to steal from you... O Smaug the...Unassessably...Wealthy…” Bilbo manages to speak clearly as the dragon’s eye draws closer. “I merely wanted to gaze upon your magnificence…” the dragon's eye starts to twitch back and forth across Bilbo, pupil dilating in growing anger. “To see if you really were as great as the old tales say…” 

The dragon has begun to snarl and his lips curl back to reveal his many sharp teeth as he raises his head, truly showing some growing rage in his fierce expression.

Bilbo continues, although his voice breaks and hitches up an octave, as he lets out a very nervous chuckle, “Hmm, I did not believe them!” He finishes as Smaug turns around and slithers powerfully to the opposite side of the pillar, turning magnificently, arching his long neck and filling the cavernous hall nearly floor to ceiling. 

“And do you now?” he asks, thunderous voice echoing off the emerald walls and cavernous ceiling.

Confronted now with the full enormity of Smaug, Bilbo must force himself to remain standing where he is and not flee in terror. His whole being screams ‘RUN!’ Bilbo looks up to Smaug as he poses proudly before him, “Truly…” Bilbo nervously nods his head, “The tales and songs fall….utterly short...of your enormity, O Smaug the Stupendous!” his voice wavers at the end as the beast’s great head shifts momentarily into the darkness far above.

Smaug lowers his head to regard Bilbo now, eyes narrow, “Do you think flattery will keep you alive, thief?” He asks silkily, venom lacing his tone.

Bilbo shakes, heart in his throat, “N-no no!” He says softly. Quickly. Eyes wide.

“No indeed.” Smaug replies just as softly. He draws a deep breath, and a deep growl resonates in his chest as he turns his body, taking a few steps, predatory but now somewhat inquisitive, “You seem familiar with my name, but I don’t remember smelling your kind before.” He states, crawling nearer to Bilbo, low on his belly like a great lazy lizard. In that moment, Bilbo’s mouth opens and he takes a breath to speak, brow furrowed as the Dragon continues with a question now, “Who are you and where do you come from, may I asssk?” The dragon puts emphasis on the ‘k’ in ask and Bilbo’s mind races anew, his mouth starts to move although no sound comes out as he tries to think of what to say next. 

He mustn’t come across as witless. It is common knowledge to those of Middle Earth that Dragons take great pride in their superior intellect and wit, and therefore they find it nearly irresistible to turn down a sharp-as-a-whip turn of phrase or well thought out riddle. They simply cannot help themselves. Bilbo is looking all around him, begging for some kind of miraculous inspiration. His eyes fall to the floor of golden coin to his right, not twenty feet away.

There it is. A glowing blue light, partially obscured by coin.

There it bloody well is. The Arkenstone. 

Bilbo feels his heart pause in its frantic pounding just long enough for him to blink before giving a nauseating and violent throb and resuming, after a few sluggish beats, its frantic assault on his ribcage. Eyes wide with the surge of fresh adrenaline that rode those uncomfortable palpitations, Bilbo looks between the stone and the dragon for a moment. “I-” Bilbo tears his eyes off the stone, ‘Focus on the dragon!’ His conscious screams. “I come from under the hill.” his voice is slight, airy, out of breath. He allows a smile to touch his lips, deranged as it feels.

The dragon’s head dips close to Bilbo, “Underhill?” he asks softly, one great clawed wing coming to rest on its knuckle nearby with a heavy thud and the tinkling of coin.

Bilbo’s heart is frantic and his eyes wide as he nods a quick and terrified ‘yes’, his gaze darting back to the Arkenstone to his right. He hears the dragon’s breathing rumble like a distant roll of thunder. A small, surge of confidence washes over his psyche at the appearance of this bleeding stupid stone and he cannot help but smile at himself as his mind weaves his next sentence, “And under hills and over hills my path has led.” he smiles hopefully, gesturing the motion of going over and under something with his hands. “And, and through the air!” he raises an arm out and behind him, “I am he who walks unseen.” Bilbo finishes, quite proud of his little tale, forged in truth, but woven like a true storyteller.

The dragon is quite apparently intrigued by this creature from ‘Underhill’. He slides around to be closer to Bilbo. “Impressive. What else do you claim to be?” He asks, his snout drawing very near to Bilbo.

“I am, L-luck-wearer.” He says, eyes closed as he is washed in the decidedly unpleasant halitosis of this ancient beast. He nonchalantly fans the air away as the dragon exhales another breath through his huge nostrils. “Ri-riddle-maker!” He stutters as the dragon growls. 

“Lovely titles,” he purrs, “Go on.”

Bilbo swallows hard and cups his hands together, embarrassed at the latest name he has created, but speaks it boldly anyway, since the dragon’s nose is now only a foot from his chest. “Barrel-rider.”

“Barrels?” smaug exclaims, the reptilian smile he casts showing most of his teeth and putting a crinkle by his eyes. He is clearly quite amused by this name and Bilbo is forced to step back as the dragon draws even closer before he draws back entirely. “That is interesting.” Like a great snake his head slips around and behind pillars to regard Bilbo from another angle now. “And what about your little dwarf friends? Where are they hiding?” His voice is venomous, and his expression testing, as his head full of teeth draws near to Bilbo once again, more threatening and menacing than ever before. 

"Dw...dwarves?" Bilbo says slowly, trying the word carefully on his tongue as though never having said it before in his life, face etched with uncertainty. "No. No-no-no dwarves here. You've got that all wrong." If his heart was racing before, it is positively sprinting now.

"Oh, I dont think so, Barrel-rider!" The dragon's head moves expressively to regard the Hobbit as he uses Bilbo’s last title, almost mockingly.

Bilbo tries to to inch closer to the Arkenstone, keeping a wary eye on the great dragon. He needs to get out while his heart still has a beat and he still has breath in his lungs. 

"They sent you in here to do their dirty work while they skulk about outside." Smaug's tone is escalating to something beyond simple anger now, into something far more sinister. 

Bilbo freezes and his mouth drops open in a shocked expression at Smaug's words, "Truly, you are mistaken, O Smaug, chiefest and greatest of calamities."

"You have _nice manners_ for a thief," Smaug starts slowly, his tone is silk and poison, "and a LIAR!" The dragon's head juts forward out of the shadows and into a beam of light, casting sharp shadows across the scales of his long face and the flared spines that crown the great dragon's head like a frill. His burning eyes wide with ire.

"I know the smell and TASTE of dwarf." Smaug thunders, snaking his head back behind and around a pillar like a great angry serpent. Bilbo sees his chance, the massive dragon is distracted, his line of sight broken, so he starts side stepping towards the Arkenstone.

"No one better!"

Bilbo takes a few more steps closer to the glowing gem.

"It is the gold!" Bilbo looks dead at the gem.and slowly starts to crouch for it when suddenly Smaug's left clawed wing slams I to the gold right on top of the Arkenstone, sending the gem flying and bouncing down the golden mountain. "They are drawn to treasure like flies to dead flesh." Smaug growls with disgust and bile in his voice. 

"Did you think I did not know this day would come?" Smaug bellows, the left side of his head slams into a pillar as he chases Bilbo down the hill a bit before withdrawing and striding, enraged down the mountain after Bilbo who tumbled over a short ledge and into a small pile of gold, more falling on top of him. 

"That a pack of _canting_ dwarves would come CRAWLING back to the mountain?" He bellows at the top of his lungs, furious, as he knocks down a pillar and it crashes down onto the gold with a great and heavy thud, sending a massive tremor through the rock of the lonely Mountain.

~~~~

The dwarves milling about outside the lonely Mountain are beset by confusion at the sudden and powerful tremor. 

Dori looks to Balin with fear etched into his Dwarven features. "Was that an earthquake?"

"That my lad," Dori pauses for a moment as his fellow's attention falls upon him, "was a dragon."

~~~To Be Continued?~~~


End file.
